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Influence of Belichick Extends to SEC Sidelines

ATLANTA — In 1990 when Florida Coach Urban Meyer was the linebackers coach at Illinois State — a bad linebackers coach, he insists — he was looking to return to his native Ohio.

He called Nick Saban, who had recently been hired as Toledo’s coach, to see if he could have a job on his staff. In the days before cellphones, Meyer wrangled a home number for Saban and ended up speaking with his wife, Terry, for about 10 minutes.

“She was sold,” Meyer recalled with a smile. He told his wife, Shelley, “We’re going to Toledo.”

Saban never called. The Meyers went to Colorado State. Terry Saban has not forgotten.

“She was right about that,” Nick Saban said. “And she lets me know from time to time that she was right.”

While Urban Meyer and Nick Saban never shared a sideline, they will be opposite each other for the second straight year with the No. 1 and No. 2 team in the country in the Southeastern Conference championship game.

They are linked, however, by a common bond: their friendship and philosophical devotion to New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. Belichick’s philosophies will be sprinkled across the field at the Georgia Dome on Saturday when the No. 1 Gators play the No. 2 Crimson Tide for a spot in the national title game.

Saban served four years under Belichick in Cleveland as his defensive coordinator and Belichick often picks Saban’s brain on defense. Meyer and Belichick met when Meyer took the job at Florida in the winter of 2005, and the two trade off-season visits.

All three share a passion for football and a distaste for wasted conversation.

“One thing about Coach Saban, is he’s not a guy that’s going to chitchat a whole lot,” Meyer said. “I’m probably very similar.”

Asked if Belichick was the same, Meyer answered appropriately and succinctly.

“With him: Zero,” Meyer said of wasted conversation.

Belichick and Meyer opened their lines of communication soon after Meyer took the job at Florida. Meyer answered his cellphone one day and the voice on the other end said, “Hi, this is Bill Belichick.”

Meyer answered, “Yeah, this is Pete Rose.”

Soon after, Belichick came to Gainesville to spend a day with Meyer, the first of many reciprocal visits by the coaches and their staffs. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow said that many of the empty backfield packages that the Patriots run came from Meyer’s playbook. The Florida offensive coordinator Steve Addazio said that Florida used some “shuffle motions to unwind defenses” and some “pre-snap motions” that came from New England.

Meyer said that their first conversation revolved around Belichick quizzing him on X’s and O’s and Meyer wanting to know about team chemistry and creating a winning culture.

Photo

Alabama's Nick Saban, left, was an assistant to Bill Belichick in the N.F.L., while Florida's Urban Meyer, right, trades visits with him in the offseason.Credit
John Bazemore/Associated Press

“What I admire about him more than most is that it’s always about getting better,” Meyer said. “Whether it’s an offensive play or team chemistry or special teams. Our conversations are about that.”

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Tebow has spent a lot of time around Belichick, both when Belichick has addressed the Gators and one-on-one. He said he leaned on Belichick “as a friend” when deciding whether to enter the N.F.L. draft after his junior year.

“Anytime I can talk with him and get advice from him and ask him as many questions as I could, I do,” Tebow said. “He’s just someone that I respect a lot. He was someone I really wanted to talk to and Coach Meyer felt comfortable with me talking to him.”

Saban’s ties with Belichick go much deeper. He served as his defensive coordinator in Cleveland from 1991 to 1994. Michael Lombardi, who was the Browns director of player personnel, said that the combination of defensive minds was something to behold. Cleveland gave up only 205 points in 1994, as Lombardi said that Saban and Belichick came up with a complex defense known as Red 2 to stymie opponents in the red zone.

“They probably couldn’t figure out the coverages at M.I.T. it was so complicated,” said Lombardi, now a contributor to the National Football Post.

Saban said he learned more under Belichick than at any other stop in his coaching career. He said that Belichick’s strength was getting people in the organization assigned to a specific task and locking them in on it.

“I think that’s why he’s had so much success,” Saban said. “Everyone understands what they’re supposed to do and why it’s important to do it. Philosophically, that’s the greatest thing I learned from him.”

Saban lauded Belichick’s attention to detail, something Lombardi said Saban was also known for, on and off the field.

“He had a great garden, it was incredible,” Lombardi said of Saban. “The attention to detail that he shows in football he shows in every part of his life.”

The fact that two of his friends are facing off has not escaped Belichick. He said he did not follow college football this time of year, but that he was happy for Saban and Meyer.

“I know a lot of people felt last year that was the national championship game,” Belichick said. “I don’t know enough about all the teams in college football to know if that’s right, but they’re ranked at the top, so it’s a great matchup. They’re well-coached. They’ve got a lot of talent there.”

Saban and Meyer never did get to work together, but thanks to Belichick, their philosophies are not far apart.

A version of this article appears in print on December 5, 2009, on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: Influence of Belichick Extends to SEC Sidelines. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe